Showing results by publisher "Spoken Realms" in Biographies & Memoirs

Captain Scott's ill-fated journey to the Antarctic Pole in 1911 is part triumph, part tragedy - an epic tale of heroic endeavor which has inspired books and films over the generations. Despite the simple outline of the story, Scott and his fellow explorers emerge as richly varied characters, brought to life by the diarist's skill as a story-teller. Scott's journal reaches its moving and dramatic crescendo when the explorers reach the Pole, only to discover that the Norwegian, Amundsen, has beaten them to it by many weeks.

This memoir is an autobiographical account of the events as witnessed by Bernal Diaz - a Conquistador on that journey - a man from Spain who desperately hoped to carve out a life of riches for himself in the new world and instead found himself on an epic journey of conquest, whilst desperately fighting to stay alive, in previously unknown and unimagined lands. This is a true tale written in his own hand and translated into English. It is a gripping account of the events from the soldiers' viewpoint as each day becomes a battle for survival against incredible odds.

The explosive, definitive account of Michael Jackson’s fall from grace has now been updated with four new fascinating chapters. Award-winning journalist Diane Dimond, who first broke the story of the King of Pop’s battles against child molestation charges from 1993 to 2005, takes you behind the scenes and into the courtroom of one of the most controversial cases of the decade. This audio version gives listeners a dramatic glimpse of one reporter’s vigilance and unending quest to uncover the truth.

Get ready to experience the real-life drama from behind the walls of one of the country’s worst maximum-security facilities. Experience horrific assaults, bloodthirsty murders, and the kind of drama that needs to be heard to be believed. Simon King shares a raw and uncensored look beyond the razor wire, giving you the opportunity to see how life really runs inside a place filled with those the society would rather forget.

Was Billy the Kid really shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett on a July night in 1881? At the midpoint of the last century, an old man comes forth seeking a pardon for crimes committed. He says that he wants to die a free man - and that he is Billy the Kid. The incident leads to this examination of new facts, new interpretations, and new contradictions. It is the story of "Brushy" Bill Roberts, a man who laid claim to a legend. Originally published in 1955 by University of New Mexico Press.

“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” Jane Austen at her witty, observant, intelligent, and sympathetic best, in this collection of her letters written to family and friends. Compiled by her niece Fanny Knight’s son Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen (the first Baron Brabourne), and edited by Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, this collection includes a preface written by the editor and notes from Lord Brabourne. It was originally published in 1892.

These are entirely Napoleon Bonaparte's own words, written and spoken, and collected in journal form. A particular focus here has been put on Napoleon's writings that pertain to military and state matters. The dates in terms of the revolutionary calendar have been modernized, and names and titles of individuals mentioned have been maintained with no attempt at uniformity. This production was begun on the 250th year of Napoleon's birth.

Eight years before he was elected the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt published these detailed recollections of hunting bison, bear, cougar, elk, moose, deer, and other game around the country. This production was undertaken on the 100th anniversary of Roosevelt's death.

Almost a decade and a half after the death of Oscar Wilde - and dealing with the fall-out of an unsuccessful and financially ruinous libel action - Lord Alfred "Bosie" Douglas for the first time gives his version of the disastrous relationship between the two men, and Wilde's eventual disgrace and imprisonment. He also examines the literary and cultural legacy of Oscar Wilde.

Here are the stories of the great gangs that once terrorized New York City, from the Bowery Boys and the Dead Rabbits to the Gophers and the Eastmans—here are the infamous gangsters, from the days of the murderous Five Points Gangs to the later underworld mobs led by Mose the Bowery Boy, Monk Eastman, Paul Kelly, Kid Dropper, Dopey Benny, Gyp the Blood, and Owney Madden, and such feminine underworld luminaries as Gallus Mag and Sadie the Goat.

One of France's greatest writers, Voltaire was frequently persecuted for his ideas and as a result, spent time in the famed Bastille. He fled his native land for England in 1726, at which time he witnessed the differences between the two countries. His celebrated Letters on England was first published in that nation in 1733 and contained 24 succinct letters on subjects ranging from religion and politics, to trade, the arts, philosophy, and science.

Mr. Washington was born a slave. His family, freed after the Civil War, struggled for a livelihood under terrible conditions. Mr. Washington, however, was determined to be educated, and he took advantage of every opportunity to learn available to him. He rose from poverty and ignorance to help found Tuskegee University. This audiobook should be an inspiration to all who listen.

James Capen Adams roamed the Sierra Nevada when California was wild. He slept on the ground, ate what he could kill, mended his own wounds, and made friends with the Native Americans he encountered. Adams captured animals in elaborate traps he built by hand and delivered his prey to zoos, museums, and certain famous exhibitions. Many of his stories became the inspiration for a popular TV show in the 1980s, featuring a mountain man and his pet bear. This is the true story behind the legend, as told by Adams to respected California historian Theodore Hittell.

No one could protect her once she was inside. No friend would hear her if she screamed. A brilliant undercover journalist and actress, Nellie Bly is admitted into Blackwell's Island asylum in New York as a homeless "crazy" lady. What will she be in 10 days?

Jefferson Davis (1808 - 1889) was an American politician who became president of the Confederate States during the Civil War. He took his seat in Congress as the representative for Mississippi in 1847. As a Democrat, Davis was an enthusiastic supporter of the expansion of slavery. In 1861, he resigned from the Senate when the state of Mississippi seceded. During the Civil War, Davis acted as chief executive and commander in chief for the Confederacy. After the war, he was captured and charged with treason.

This account of the life of St. Ignatius, dictated by himself to Father Gonzalez, is a most valuable record of the great Founder of the Society of Jesus. It, more than any other work, gives an insight into the spiritual life of St. Ignatius. Few works in ascetical literature, except the writings of St. Teresa and St. Augustine, impart such a knowledge of the soul.The saint in his narrative always refers to himself in the third person, and this mode of speech has here been retained.

These are the words of Christopher Columbus - the record of his first voyage to America. His private journal from the trip was lost, but not before being studied and condensed by later writers like Spanish historian and Dominican friar Bartolomé de Las Casas, whose abridgement has been changed to first person perspective for this production (Columbus' actual words were often included by the friar). The result is a personal record of an enterprise which changed the whole face of history.

Upton Sinclair, the greatest of the muckraking journalists, author of "The Jungle" and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, decided to run for Governor of California in 1934. It was the depths of the Great Depression in America and around the world. He changed his party registration to Democratic, ran for, and won the nomination. In this book, Sinclair lays out step by step what he proposes to do to lift the working men and women of California out of the poverty and unemployment which had gripped the state, the nation, and the world.

Contained here is Julius Caesar's own account of his military adventures in Gaul at the head of the Roman army, uniquely presented in Caesar's first-person perspective (rather than as a third-person narrative as in the original Latin). Included are seven sections ("books") of the Gallic War, each encompassing one year of Caesar's battles and intrigues; though there is an eighth book, it is generally accepted to have been written by another general, shortly after Caesar's death in 44 BCE.

Nellie Bly, born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864, was an American journalist, author, and charity worker who received initial renown after writing a stinging expose of the mistreatment of the mentally ill while faking insanity and living undercover at a New York mental institution. At a time when women were just beginning to break into the field of journalism, the type of undercover investigative reporting undertaken by Bly set an important precedent, allowing her to successfully pioneer working in the male dominated field of newspaper writing.